Case report of recurring pneumonia due to unusual foreign body aspiration in the airway

Abstract

Foreign body aspiration is a rare but life-threatening event. Most accidental aspiration events occur in children. In adults, it can represent up to 25% of cases. Bronchoscopy remains the gold standard for diagnosing and treating foreign body aspiration from the lower respiratory tract. A 63-year-old female smoker with a history of chronic alcoholism and exposure to pyrotechnic smoke presented a productive cough, with whitish expectoration, dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain on the right side. On chest X-ray, she presented opacity in 2/3 of the right hemithorax. Computed axial tomography revealed consolidation with an air bronchogram on the right hemithorax, cylindrical bronchiectasis, ground glass pattern and centrilobular nodules. Bronchoscopic examination revealed a foreign body covered with granulation tissue in the right segmental bronchus (B6). The granulation tissue was integrated into the foreign body. In a second attempt, the foreign body could be removed, which was of bone consistency, seemingly a bird bone, confirmed by pathological anatomy results. After further questioning, the patient reported that two years before, she had choked when eating chicken. She had a cough and an episode of hemoptysis, but she chose not to ask for medical advice.